1. A New Companion

Someone at a Distance is about how we are all connected, how our actions radiate out and touch others.

It focuses on the North family, who live a life of post-war domestic bliss. Avery commutes from their village to his London office at a small publishing house, while Ellen devotes every moment of her life to making a happy home. But it's not long before a stranger disrupts the happy scene.

Louise Lanier, a dangerous and determined young lady from a small town in France, moves in to be Old Mrs North's companion.

Recovering from heartbreak, she is bored with her provincial life in France and can't bring herself to accept her fate to marry the local chemist. She has come to England to put this off for a little while, and - one suspects - to wreak havoc.

Dorothy Whipple's final full-length novel, first published in 1953.

Dramatised in two parts by Shelagh Stephenson.

Ellen North ...... Nancy Carroll
Avery North ...... Julian Wadham
Louise Lanier ...... Olivia Ross
John Bennett/Monsieur Lanier ...... Ron Cook
Mrs Daley/Madame Lanier ...... Kate Duchêne
Anne North/Germaine Devoisey ...... Macy Nyman
Hugh North/Paul Devoisey ...... Tom Glenister
Mrs North/Mrs Beard ...... Pamela Miles

Director: Eoin O’Callaghan

A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in June 2022.